Vikings owner Zygi Wilf, right, chats with his brother Mark prior to Minnesota's game vs. the Detroit Lions at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday September 16, 2007. (Richard Marshall, Pioneer Press)

Vikings owner Zygi Wilf, center, checks NFL game scores on the scoreboard with his brother Mark, right, and nephew Steven, left, prior to Minnesota's game vs. the Detroit Lions at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday September 16, 2007. (Richard Marshall, Pioneer Press)

Despite a disappointing 1-3 start, Vikings owner Zygi Wilf said Tuesday that he “absolutely” has confidence in his coach and is “100 percent” behind him.

“We just feel very comfortable with coach (Brad) Childress, and his philosophy, and we’re behind him 100 percent,” Wilf said.

After speaking at the Carlson School of Management’s First Tuesday luncheon at the University of Minnesota, Wilf reiterated one of the central themes of his speech in regards to Childress: patience.

“Our goal is to be consistent in the long term,” Wilf said. “We have a commitment to getting a team that is not built for a one-shot affair.

“We want to build a team that is consistent for many, many years to come – for decades to come,” Wilf said, “and I think … I know … that the people we have in place are the right people.”

Wilf said the coaching staff has “my full support,” and he added that the organization needed a major overhaul when he officially assumed control in May 2005.

“We’re consistently getting better in all aspects, and I think the results will show sooner rather than later,” Wilf said. “But like I said, even when it comes to the business of football, if you want to get a world-class caliber team, and a championship team, you have to work hard at it, and everyone has to be communicating with each other, and we have to build it together. It’s going to be patience that is going to dictate our philosophy.

“We’re very, very much optimistic that the time will come that we will be a consistent winner here and bring a championship to Minnesota.”

Wilf also said he had no regrets about the team’s standing at quarterback, and he downplayed the potential end to the team’s sellout streak.

Asked if he had a message to frustrated fans, Wilf said, “The fans are great here.

“I don’t think there is much frustration,” he said. “I think there is a lot of patience here, and I just hope we can reward them with more and more victories, sooner rather than later. And I think we’ll get that done.”

Wilf has limited his public comments the past few months, and he was at the McNamara Alumni Center to speak about “The Business of Football.” For 25 minutes, Wilf discussed his parents, who were Holocaust survivors, and his family’s successful real estate business, which enabled them to purchase the Vikings. He also shared with the sell-out crowd the lessons he’s learned (hiring good people, the importance of communication), and the differences between succeeding in business and in football.

At one point, Wilf made the attendants laugh in talking about patience.

“We think very long term, and we are very patient,” Wilf said of his family’s business philosophy. “And I see that here with the football fans.”

But much of his discussion centered on the Vikings’ need for a stadium, a topic he hasn’t addressed much lately, in part because of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse. Wilf once again said the team is here “for the long term” and that “we’re not moving the team.” But he said the team will try to advance the stadium initiative as “aggressively as we can” in 2008.

“I hope that the people on the hill realize this is something that should be taken care of sooner rather than later,” Wilf said. “Yes, we have patience. But the truth of the matter is in today’s world economy, patience can be very costly and make things prohibitive.”

At one point, the price tag for a stadium with a retractable roof was $950 million, but he said that cost could escalate well above $1 billion with the cost of materials “skyrocketing.”

“The quicker we get it done, the easier it’ll be to get it done,” Wilf said. “That was my emphasis of what I meant by patience, but not too much patience.”

Meanwhile, Wilf downplayed the financial boon a stadium would be for him and the club. While he wouldn’t provide a specific figure, Wilf said he and his fellow owners would contribute “hundreds of millions” toward the project. But the Vikings also will lose a significant amount of money they receive as part of the NFL’s revenue-sharing program.

“What a new facility does is provide stability, not just for the team and ownership and the National Football League, but for this community as well,” Vikings vice president Lester Bagley said.

Wilf, though, made clear on two occasions that he has no qualms about the state’s current push to improve infrastructure.

“I think the priorities are very well set,” Wilf said. “(Improving) infrastructure are definitely a priority, as is being addressed right now.

“I just think the stadium is an important issue that has to be discussed, and I think we should have an open discussion on how to get it resolved.”

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